The event started six years ago with 20 delegates, according to Paula Raubenheimer, Habari Media head of operations, and will grow to 200 delegates this year. The symposium aims to inform key media, marketing and advertising players on the latest trends in building brands online. Delegates are mainly made up of media planners, marketing directors and CEOs.
Speakers include Gary Hadfield, the knowledgeable CEO of Kalahari.net, who will discuss online transacting in SA; and Isla Macleod, digital business development manager for BBC Worldwide, will follow with a discussion titled “Growing brands in 2010 = digital, social and interactive”.
Trevor Johnson, head of strategy and planning at Facebook EMEA, will talk about social media and Facebook and how it applies to the SA market, while Angus Robinson, founder of mobile and social media agency Brandsh Media, will discuss how brands could effectively make use of social media. Andy Ellis and Adam Whitehouse, creative directors at Stonewall+ The Digital Marketing Agency, will be talking about translating creativity online.
The symposium this year introduces what it calls 101 sessions which will allow delegates to break away to any of four rooms for workshops on Internet basics. The 101 sessions is part of Habari's drive to educate executives interested in online marketing but new to the field, and the workshops will cover how ad serving works, creativity online, online media planning and understanding online advertising basics.
Online media partner Bizcommunity.com will be covering the Habari Media Digital Symposium live from Spier via Twitter (follow @marklives) and look out for stories and interviews on the main website on both Wednesday and Thursday.
![[Biz Takeouts Podcast] 160: Mobile, social, design and media with NATIVE VML](https://biz-file.com/c/1512/324335-300x156.jpg?2)